Oracle asked to help low-income residents evicted for its new cloud campus

Earlier this week Oracle announced that it's planning to build a brand-new cloud-computing campus in Austin, Texas, but since then a darker backstory has come to light.

Roughly 100 low-income families were hastily evicted this summer from an apartment complex on the land in order to make it available for the sale to Oracle, according to reports, and they're now seeking restitution.

Though some of the former tenants of Lakeview Apartments had leases through the end of the year, they were reportedly forced by owner Cypress Real Estate Advisors to move out early. Some have said their security deposits were not returned, and they have had no assistance as they've struggled to find comparably priced housing.

A group of former tenants reportedly gathered near the site of their one-time home Wednesday to protest and to appeal to Oracle for assistance.

Oracle declined to comment. Neither Cypress nor City of Austin officials responded to a request for comment.

Oracle plans to collaborate with local firms to design and build the new campus in a phased approach beginning with the construction of a 560,000-square-foot complex and parking development on the waterfront of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. As part of its effort to attract millennial talent, it will also buy an adjacent 295-unit apartment building for employee housing, it said.

The move will expand Oracle's Austin staff by more than 50 percent over the next few years, particularly in its Oracle Direct cloud sales organization.

Copyright 2016 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is prohibited.